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Every day millions of businesses use chat programs to communicate in real time with associates, customers and suppliers across the street or on the other side of the globe. Applications such as AIM, Gmail chat, Skype and Yahoo Messenger enable businesses to send messages instantly to people in their contact list. If you are using a chat service on your computer, you probably already have the desktop version of the chat client software installed on your computer. However, if your business takes you on the road and you must use a public computer or one without your preferred chat client application, you can still communicate on virtually every major chat program using nothing more than a Web browser.

AIM

1. Open your Web browser and navigate to the AIM Express website (link in Resources.)

2. Click the "Chat Now" button. Wait a few seconds for the AIM Express pop-up window to appear and load fully.

Gmail

3. Scroll down to the Chat box in the left navigation pane of your Gmail Inbox page, then click the name of a person in your contact list. A small chat window pops up in the browser window.

4. Enter text in the lower pane of the window, then press the "Enter" key to send it to your friend.

Yahoo Messenger

1. Open browser program and go to the Yahoo Mail login page (link in Resources.) Enter your Yahoo ID and Password, then click "Sign In."

2. Click the "Lightning Bolt" icon next to the Online Contacts link in the navigation page to log in to Yahoo Messenger automatically. The "Lightning Bolt" icon changes to a small arrow.

3. Click the arrow next to Online Contacts, then the name of an online friend with who you want to chat. A new IM window or tab appears in the browser depending on your Yahoo Messenger preferences.

4. Type a message into the text entry box, then press "Enter" to send the message to your friend.

Imo.im

1. Open your Web browser and navigate to the Imo.im website (link in Resources.) The Imo.im website allows you to log in to most popular chat services and chat with friends using the Imo.im Web interface. The site supports all major chat services such as AIM, Facebook, GTalk (Gmail) and Windows Live Messenger. The site also allows you to chat on services that typically don’t offer Web chat interfaces such as Skype and Steam.

2. Click the icon of the chat service to which you want to connect under the "Sign in to Another Account" header. A new Sign In pop-up window appears.

3. Enter your username and password for the chat service, then click the "Sign In" button.

4. Click the name of a friend under the "Online" header. A new tab appears in the dashboard window appears display the name of the friend you clicked.

About the Author

Jeff Grundy has been writing computer-related articles and tutorials since 1995. Since that time, Grundy has written many guides to using various applications that are published on numerous how-to and tutorial sites. Born and raised in South Georgia, Grundy holds a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.